NON-Partisan Marches, Keep On Keeping On

I’d like to clarify something that most writers are missing right now: in order to grab headlines, they’re losing readers interest from even glancing at their very valid points by turning the Civil Rights issues this nation is dealing with into a Liberal and Conservative war. These protests are not Democrats and liberal voters versus Republican and conservative voters (and yes, let’s please assume all other American voters are included in here in the spectrum, okay?).

This is about a majority of Americans who:

recognized from the very beginning how dangerous Trump’s vision for a “great” America is

recognized almost too late how dangerous he is

recognized after they voted for him how dangerous he is

and they’re identifying early on that yes, Mr. Trump is doing everything he can to negatively affect Human Rights and Civil Rights in this country and around the world. They’re speaking out immediately, visibly, and with just cause. They’re showing that even if our votes didn’t count, thanks to GOP and Russian vote tampering and election tampering, our voices count for something now and won’t be turned away.

This country is unifying, even against those who are still whimpering and whining over wondering why all of those millions of marching losers don’t seem to understand that “their” candidate lost and why they just don’t accept it and get over it. That number of whimpering whiners is dwindling.

The reason is because unifying against Trump is a non-partisan issue for the American people. That’s the reason these marches are working. It’s the reason Republican leaders are listening. Their constituents, especially their Republican voters, are marching and writing to them in tandem. They have a reason to pay attention, especially considering many of them are coming up for re-election in only two years.

Now… when it comes to the nominations Trump is putting forth and confirming them, it’s partly partisan, but mostly bigotry and anti-science plus some KKK white supremacy thrown in, but there are Republican officials speaking out more and voting against the nominations. This is important. It means that we’re being heard. It means that maybe they’re afraid of losing votes, sure, but some of them really do see that these are Constitutional issues. Most of the nominations are getting in, but we can hope that the Senate keeps out the rest.

It’s definitely changing regarding the ever-increasingly unstable, unvetted, illegal, unconstitutional, un-American “executive orders.” For the record here, I didn’t like everything President Obama did with his EO’s, but I never once believed he did anything illegal, unconstitutional, or un-American. I believed him to occasionally be misguided and that he needed to be more bi-partisan (or rather non-partisan), as the job of President is no longer partisan. No president is perfect.

Back to the marches.

The marches are non-partisan. These marches are unifying our nation, not splitting it, in spite of the efforts of Mr. Trump and his team of spinners to convince the nation otherwise. His support is dwindling except in the echo chambers of die-hard fans, where they have self-built self-sustaining walls created with years of willful self-denial. No other president in history had, within a week of inauguration, a 51% disapproval rating… the highest disapproval rating for any sitting president.

Anyway, to suggest that the protests are “liberal protests” is divisive. We’re all involved from every party because we’re all invested… at least those of us who voted. I’m still hearing people say,

“He’s not my president. I don’t really care what’s happening. I didn’t even vote. I just have to wait out all of this craziness from all sides for four more years and then everyone will vote for sanity in a third party.”

Yeah… no. We kind of did this, granted with the help of Russia and Trump’s team being complicity in all of it. Plus the gerrymandering of the GOP with election sites, and other forms of trying to defraud people out of their right to vote. Oh yes, and in addition to fixing machines in favor of the GOP. Yeah. That’s the kind of president we have. A criminal, a cheater, and a traitor.

During W.Bush’s second term, I was really upset that he was elected that second time. Not nearly as upset as Trump being “elected” because at least W.Bush was actually elected, and I wasn’t livid. I wasn’t depressed or anxious. I got over it, for the most part, in spite of having fits of anger on occasion for the occasional jackass things he did and said. I was pissed about the warmongering of VP Dick Cheney. Even then, W was still my President. He wasn’t a traitor, at least.

Trump… he may be our president, but he didn’t earn it. He didn’t win it. He’s certainly failing at the job and it hasn’t been a month. We’re practically at war with every nation he’s interacted with except for Russia. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Mexico, China, Yemen, and Australia are ready to bomb the shit out of us. Fucking Australia, people. We’re like, BFF’s with Australia and England and here we are, on the outs with Australia. Who’s next, Canada?

Marching in resistance to Donald Trump physically and verbally is about as American and Patriotic as it gets. It’s standing up for ethical and moral values of the highest standard, including Christian values, morals, and ethics. I thought it was kind of ridiculous when people marched against Obama, but that was their right. It WASN’T their right to burn him in effigy. That was just disgusting. Notice, though, no one is burning Trump in effigy. That’s what peaceful protest is all about.

I can assure you, the state of Resistance has nothing to do with crybabies being poor losers that their candidate didn’t win. If that’s what you think this boils down to, then it’s time to start paying attention. It’s time to re-evaluate your ethics and values. If it turns out that the reasons for the marches offend you, then it’s because you’re on the wrong side of history. You’re on the wrong side of patriotism, what it means to be American, and yes, what it means to be Christian and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

It has everything to do with losing Constitutionally ensured rights; losing rights that are Federally protected. Rights of those who are discriminated against, and need the protection of law in the Constitution. It has to do with the fact that our new pseudo-president is trying to write executive orders, orders that he hasn’t thoroughly vetted or researched or even consulted with the proper specialists and heads of departments over, that would violate the Constitution in order to revoke Civil Rights, health rights, Human Rights, education rights, Disability Rights, Women’s Rights, Veteran’s Rights, Elder Rights, and more.

People who are opposed to these marches, who are offended by them, don’t realize that these marches are for their benefit. They only see that “their” candidate is being “attacked” and still, the tired old,

“What a bunch of losers, just get over it already. Move on.”

and the ever lovely,

“Obama wiped his ass with the Constitution every day.”

Of course what they really mean by that little gem is that President Obama clarified people’s rights and made certain that people’s rights were protected under the Constitution. When that happens, it’s a good thing for everyone. It’s unlawful actions that try to revoke rights.

It’s incredibly difficult to obtain rights. They must be fought for with sweat, blood, and tears by those whose rights aren’t recognized. It takes more than decades of literal fighting and fighting in the courts… it takes centuries. Actual, literal centuries. And when those rights are finally recognized and then protected in our Constitution, we have this deranged faux president with absolutely no morals or ethics, who has stated that they simply get in the way of what he wants, who thinks he can write executive orders to take away anyone’s rights that he pleases. He thinks he can simply dismantle whatever he wants, and everyone will be pleased as punch.

When that’s not the case, he attempts media blackout. He gaslights the media and credible journalists. He tries to discredit every single well respected individual that speaks out against him so that his fans call them traitors.

Traitors. Which is funny, since he’s the one who committed and is committing treason. That alone is a Federal offense. But hey, we’re living in an alternate universe this year.

“Speaking out against criticism of the President is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt

Which is why it’s so damned funny to me that people are offended on Trump’s behalf that men and women are marching against Trump. It’s funny that his voters fell for so much of his obvious lies and ignored his crimes. He proved throughout his entire campaign just how incompetent he was. Daily. He proved it even more AFTER HE WAS ELECTED, and it worsened day by day the closer we got to that farce of an inauguration. Since the election, many many many of his voters are regretting what they did to this country, their contribution to the damage… but there are too many who are still willingly stuffing their mouths with sawdust flavored with arsenic, and calling it Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.

The traitors are those who still defend this deranged traitor that calls himself president. So no, I’m still not over it.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus noted Sunday that the huge protests at some of the nation’s airports over the weekend were out of proportion to the practical effect of President Donald Trump‘s executive order on immigration.

“The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States” on Saturday, Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. “And 109 people were detained for further questioning.”

That number grew slightly by the end of the day, but reflected a general truth that ought to be sobering for the administration — the vast majority of protesters didn’t know the detainees and didn’t have friends or family connected to one of the seven predominantly Muslim nations targeted in the crackdown on immigrants and refugees.

They descended by the thousands on international terminals coast to coast mostly to raise alarm on behalf of strangers and to object to the abdication of key American values that a ban on refugees represents.

Similarly, none of the millions who marched and rallied for women’s rights the previous weekend had yet lost anything or suffered a single deprivation on account of Trump. How could they have? He’d been president for only one day.

In other words, most of the anti-Trump protests so far have been over symbolism and omens.

So just imagine what’s going to happen if or when the largely hypothetical becomes real and the abstract becomes personal.

•If or when the numbers of people turned away from our borders, detained or deported grows from the hundreds into the tens of thousands.

•If or when millions of people lose their health insurance policies after Obamacare is repealed.

•If or when Roe v. Wade is overturned and states begin outlawing abortion.

•If or when we begin to go backward on LGBTQ rights and anti-gay discrimination is enshrined as a religious right.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order to suspend refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries was met with protests at U.S. airports.

•If or when prices or taxes rise to pay for an unnecessary border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and for Trump’s misbegotten trade wars.

•If or when public education begins to disappear in major urban centers.

•If or when strict voter-ID laws, with their racially discriminatory effects, sweep the red states.

If any of the above hypotheticals become reality, these recent protests will seem quaint in comparison.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this the Liberal Spring, but make no mistake: After eight, sleepy, nearly torpid years of hoping that President Barack Obama and his wealthiest supporters would protect their interests, members of the left — progressives, Democrats — have awakened with a roar.

Critics complained that the Women’s March on Washington was incoherent and diffuse, an airing of various concerns without an identifiable set of demands. Actually, though, the message of those rallies was quite clear: We’re not cowering in the face of the Trump agenda. We’re determined, we’re energized and when Trump crosses the line, we’ll be right back out here with demonstrations that’ll make those tea party rallies of 2010 look like Tuesday morning gatherings at the dog park.

Don’t miss the idealism. Many of the marchers, like many of the airport protesters, don’t feel directly threatened by Trumpism. They’re straight, white people of some means who have decent health insurance and probably won’t be alive long enough to be mortally sickened by the poisonous air and water in a deregulated America.

These protesters organized, made signs, traveled and took time out of their lives to make a show of their beliefs on behalf of others now that they’ve been poked by Trump’s statements and his early moves in the White House.

After ineptly playing defense and squabbling internally during Obama’s two terms, the left is back on offense, angry and activated.

The evidence is not just in the crowds and first-time protesters. The American Civil Liberties Union reported taking in $24.2 million in online donations over the weekend, more than six times the total of online donations the organization usually gets in an entire year!

And the real action, the real outrages, haven’t even really started.

Trump likes to talk about leading a “movement” because he galvanized just enough disillusioned, credulous voters to eke out a victory in the Electoral College over an opponent nearly as unpopular as he is.